Thanks Teacher.

HUGE apologies for the large gap between posts! There were a couple of reasons for my absence.
1. Finally the nice weather is here and I've been spending my afternoons outside, rather than inside on my computer.
2. I often feel irritated with my photography skills and can't stand the pics of my cards! It's really annoying to make a card that I'm happy about and ruin it in a click of a camera :)
   I've worked out a new location and lighting for my photographing and I think it helps but the left side of all my pics are still looking blurry. I can see a small hair in the lens and believe that is the cause but it's INSIDE the glass and have no idea how I would ever get it out!

I'm done acting like a cry-baby. Whining more than my 6 year olds :)  Other than that everything else is great! I've begun geocaching, which I've grown to LOVE and the kids really enjoy it too. There are tons of walking trails around here and we've found some great, inventive caches.

This is a card I made to thank a teacher.

For these challenges :
Through the Craftroom Door. - ANYTHING GOES
Card Mania - SPOTS AND STRIPES
Cards in Envy - MAKE YOUR OWN BACKGROUND
Kaboodle Doodles - STRIPES OR CIRCLES
613 Avenue Create - ANYTHING GOES
Challenge 4 Everybody - ANYTHING GOES
Creative Inspirations Paint - ANYTHING GOES
Eclectic Ellapu - ANYTHING GOES
Glitter N Sparkle - BRIGHT FUNKY COLOURS

Thanks for looking,
Farrah

I Want A Coffee.

It's 9:15 pm and I'm craving Starbucks.
Every Saturday morning I take my daughter to gymnastics class.
I get to spend a blissful hour and a half with my book and fancy coffee.
(There's a Chapters right across the street)
But this past weekend she was feeling a little under the weather so I kept her home.
Now I'm in withdrawl because my body missed it's Salted Caramel Mocha :)
I'm gonna make a tea.......
True story - my mom's ex-neighbour was in the drive-thru lane at a Timmy's (Tim Hortons) in a small town south of London, Ontario and he was paying for his coffee but dropped his change. He opened his car door, leaned out and reversed because the quarter rolled out of reach. As he rolled back the door bumped the yellow guard post and trapped his head. Really, paramedics had to be called, police were there, all because of 25 cents.
My mom moves ALOT. Every couple of years. I don't really understand why, it's just her way. And her neighbours are always unusual. Her last house I swear her neighbours were ghosts :) The house was creepy in a haunted kinda way, although there was a family of  6 living there it seemed abandoned. I would only see the dad and he was always hunched over and a slow walker. But if I looked away for even a second he'd be gone when I looked back.

The reason I'm here though is to show you my card.
I saw a card sorta similar to this in an old PaperCrafts magazine and it put me in the mood to get crafty.

 

The sentiment, dots and flower stamp are all from the same stamp set that I've had for ages but rarely use and the papers were in my scraps pile. Easy and fun to make. The brads are My Mind's Eye but I bought them on sale so that's ok.

 

 

I put Glossy Accents over the vase but my photography skills are too poor to show it :)

 

 

For these challenges -

Hobby Cutz - ANYTHING GOES

Quirky Crafts - STAMP THE BACKGROUND

Cuttin and Stampin - USE FLOWERS

Loves Rubber Stamps - ANYTHING GOES

Oldie But a Goodie - FEELING FLORAL

Paper Take Weekly - ANYTHING GOES

Challenges 4 Everybody - ANYTHING GOES

Allsorts - FOR A LADY

 

Thanks for looking,

Farrah



Great Mom

Another snowy Monday.
I need to be quick because it's not yet school time for my boys and the game they're playing could suddenly end at any time. They have their army men out all over the kitchen table and are using them to battle my daughters old polly pockets :)

I got a jump on Mother's Day cards and made this.

I can't even express how happy I was to find black twine at Michaels. And it was priced wrong so I bought it at a really low price. The two smaller craft stores that were in my area have both closed down so now Michaels is my only option.

I made this with three challenges in mind.

First CAS-ual Fridays SILVER challenge.

 

4 Crafty Chicks - TWINE

 

and The Kraft Journal - USE A FAVOURITE SKETCH.

I used one from a past issue of PaperCrafts magazine

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Farrah

 

 

I'm Multi-Tasking.

I'm watching the new show The Following while blogging this. I'm not sure I'm gonna be able to get into this show. The premise is cool but it's just too over the top.

So this card I made for the challenge at CAS-ual Fridays

 

My daughter is turning 9 in a couple months so I can either give this to her, or she can use it for a friend's birthday instead.

 

 

Finally I used my new (for me)  Paper Smooches stamp. I won it a few months ago. Lucky because I love them but can't find a store that sells them.

 

 

For this one I added a little to the inside.

 

 

......... This episode of The Following is still not impressing me. I guess I'm still searching for a Fringe replacement.

 

Also for these challenges -

LEJ Designs - ANYTHING GOES

Loves Rubber Stamps - ANYTHING GOES

Sweet Stamps - THINK PINK

Love To Create - CELEBRATE

Crazy Challenge - BIRTHDAY

 

Thanks,

Farrah

 

 

 

Wedding Card

Wednesday night. Nothing exciting happening. But getting tons of crafty stuff done thanks to the UNBELIEVABLY cold weather keeping me huddled indoors. And looking forward to the finale of American Horror Story tonight.
Even though I don't actually need a wedding card right now I don't make many of them and it's good to have on hand. (Any excuse right :D)

For these challenges -
Kaboodle Doodles. USE RIBBON
City Crafter. FOREVER MINE (HEARTS)
Creative Card Crew. GIRLY
CAS-ual Fridays.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

Farrah

 

...with a few hours to spare.

 

 

 

I can't even count the amount of times I've made a card for a specific challenge but didn't finish in time.

However, I beat the clock with this one.

 

I made this for the current challenge at CAS-ual Fridays

"Round of Applause"

and I used the colours from this weeks challenge at Colour Q

 

The sentiment is computer generated and the brads are from My Minds Eye.

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by,
Farrah

CAS Thanks.

I guess I'm outta the holiday slump.
Last Christmas I went through the same thing....too chaotic to get any crafty time.



This card is NOTHING like it was supposed to be. I don't even know what the heck happened.
******* my mind wandered after that last sentence. I wondered if "heck" was a curse word. Seems innocent to be but I don't want to offend anyone. A quick mid-post google search and I am confident it's not swearing. I also learned the word dates all the way back to the 1860's. Who knew?! *******

But I cannot ramble on tonight. Hubby and I taped Fringe and the popcorn is almost ready......

For these challenges -
Divas By Design - ANYTHING GOES
Inky Impressions - SENTIMENT
Penny's Challenge - ANYTHING GOES
Inky Chicks - ANYTHING GOES
ABC Challenges - CLEAN AND SIMPLE
Artistic Inspirations - ANYTHING GOES WITH SOME SPARKLE
Creative Creations - ANYTHING GOES
Squiggle Fly - THANK YOU

Thanks for looking,
Farrah

Dudes

After I did my last post and I mentioned the number of books I've read this year - I've finished 2 more since then - I thought " How stupid of me to not atleast say what one was my favourite." Maybe some of you are, like me, always keeping an eye for recommendations and critiques.
So in the fiction category I pick Room by Emma Donoghue, followed very closely by The Wind Through the Keyhole by Stephen King. If you haven't read the Dark Tower series you're missing out, in my opinion.
Non-fiction I pick Proof of Heaven by Eben Alexander III M.D. I WANT to believe.
That's better.

Moving on to my cards. I've got two using the same style and layout.

I'm pleased with how these cards turned out. More importantly, I photographed them from a different location in my house and am pleased with how the pics turned out :) How often I like my cards but hate their unflattering pictures. I'll spend ages tweaking tints and contrasts.... just making it worse.

For these challenges -
Digital Tuesday - LAYERS
Papelitos Stamps - ANYTHING GOES
Thru the Craft Room Door - ANYTHING GOES
Artistic Inspirations - ANYTHING GOES
Crafty Bloggers Network - ANYTHING GOES
Love To Create - ANYTHING GOES
My Grafico - ANYTHING GOES
Tammy's Scrapin' Corner - ANYTHING GOES

Thanks,
Farrah

Christmas Deer

It's already December and I'm only now posting my first Christmas card.
I-am-so-behind.
In January I might keep a tally on how many cards I make in the year. I'm curious because I make quite a few that I never post so it's impossible to know the exact number. I like to know specifics. Last Christmas my hubby gave me a Kindle. (I haven't physically turned a page in almost a year!) It's great because it keeps a list of all the books I've read, so I decided to add them up and I'm at 32 so far. That seems like a lot of books. I'd have guessed quite a bit lower. That's what got me wondering how many cards I've made. Hmmm now I'm wondering how many movies I've watched this year. For sure the number is less than 32. Probably a lot less.
Probably I'm just trying to find out where the whole YEAR went! Every year, time moves a bit faster doesn't it?

Christmas Card v.1 is this.

For these challenges -
Kaboodle Doodles - USE CIRCLES
Crafts 4 Eternity - CHRISTMAS CHAOS
Everybody Art - CHRISTMAS
The Stamping Boutique - HOLIDAY CARDS
Top Tip Tuesday - CHRISTMAS
ABC Challenges - HOLIDAY WITH BLING
Love To Create - HOLIDAY CHEER
The Kraft Journal - CLEAN AND SIMPLE
Craft Spot - CHRISTMAS
Deep Ocean Challenge - CHRISTMAS

Thanks for looking,
Farrah

Summer in November

I made TONS of stuff in the months that I've been unable to post. However I never bothered to take any pics because I couldn't upload them into my computer anyways.
See, my internet started crashing.... then it just wouldn't load AT ALL. I was busy working on a project for a friend that made me unable to take my computer in for repairs because I needed it for my scrapbooking program.
Finally I was able to hand it over to the professionals...... 4 days later it was returned to me IN WORSE CONDITION!! The laptop guy had added a second profile that he claimed would allow me to use the internet. I didn't. It still crashed constantly. And even if it did work, all my bookmarks and favourites list was in my OTHER profile. I NEED those lists. Also, the "professional" had somehow managed to screw up all my programs and files so NOTHING was working.
Oh how I wanted to start using my daughter's laptop. So easy.....just move a bunch of my stuff over to hers. But I held strong. I figured my computer had gotten a bad virus and I didn't want to risk spreading the infection to hers.
Instead I used hers for Google. Endless Googling what could have gone wrong with my laptop and ways to fix it. A lot of trial and error but mine is now running PERFECTLY. Internet is smooth and all programs are perfect. (and I've deleted the pointless secondary user profile)
Ok rant over.
I know that I should be showing a Christmas card if I wanna fit in, hopefully soon since I just finished one, but this is a "HELLO" card with a bit of a summery feel.

For these challenges:
Deep Ocean Challenge - PASTEL COLOURS
Papertake Weekly - FREE FOR ALL
Party Time Tuesdays - ANYTHING GOES
Through the Craft Room Door - ANYTHING GOES
Tuesday Alchemy - ANYTHING GOES
Joanna Sheen Challenge - ANYTHING GOES BUT NO CHRISTMAS
Pile It On - ANYTHING GOES BUT NO CHRISTMAS
The Squirrel and the Fox - ANYTHING GOES
Simon Says Stamps - ANYTHING GOES

Thanks,
Farrah

You're Cool.

Good Evening Peeps.
I've spent the past three days cursing out my computer. I'd try to get online and Internet Explorer would crash. So I started using Firefox instead. Same problem. So THEN I would just use lovely daughter's laptop. It worked fine, but it was annoying. I needed my FAVOURITES list and I couldn't access my pics. And my Scrabble games on Facebook were suffering because her screen was too small to be able to see the whole board :) Turns out, one of those "highly recommended" flash player updates that I always have popping up was actually necessary! I thought those annoying windows only popped up to test my patience or attempt to make me spend money on programs I don't want. Hmmm.
I'm either super smart for figuring out the problem, or super {opposite of smart} for thinking for weeks that that pop-up was spam. I choose to believe the first option.

I've been needing some birthday cards for boys, so I went with this.

For these challenges -
Kaboodle Doodles - STITCHING
Di's Digi Designs - MORE THAN ONE DIECUT/PUNCH
Send A Smile 4 Kids - ANYTHING GOES
Mark's Finest Papers - TAGS
By the Cute and Girly - BOYS/MEN'S CARDS
Just Add Ink - KID'S CARDS

Thanks,
Farrah

Have I Mentioned I Love Felt?

With the kids back at school I enjoyed some quiet, crafty time in the afternoons this past week.
I was able to make 2 of the following card. (Felt's so nice, I made it twice)

What'll I do next year when the boys start grade 1 and I have the WHOLE day free?
I could spend all my time at my desk, happily surrounded by paper..... or YIKES ...... go back to work :) Hmmmm it's a toss up. I'll decide later!

For these challenges -
Charisma Cardz  - SEEING DOUBLE
Crafts and Me - ADD A FLOWER
Clearly I Stamp - LEAVES
Digi Doodles - HANDMADE FLOWERS
Inky Impressions - ANYTHING GOES
Simon Says Stamps - USE STAMPS / NO DIGIS

Thanks for looking,
Farrah

I May Have Forgotten How To Type.

I knew the summer was going to be busy but, come OOOOONNNN, 5 weeks without a post is insanity :) It feels good to be here and back into the mix.
I finally sat down at my desk for some crafty fun but had only a teeny tiny window of time so I quickly improvised a card using some old Scrabble* tiles that were there.

*the game pieces were from a previous project where I made them into drink coasters but one of my kids accidentally broke it. I had intended to re glue it.... so it should now make sense why I have random tiles on my desk :)

I looked through all my papers for something with a large grid pattern and didn't have any so I tried recreating a Scrabble board with some scoring and stamps.

For these challenges -
Craft Your Days Away   ANYHING GOES. This is their last challenge and I'm sorry to see this blog go.
Lawnscaping Challenges   MAKE YOUR OWN PATTERNED PAPER.
Addicted To Stamps   RECYCLE SOMETHING
A Musing Challenges   ANYTHING GOES
Challenges 4 Everybody   ANYTHING GOES
Fat Pages and Cards with Attitude   ANYTHING GOES
Paper Play   SENTIMENT AS FOCAL POINT
L'il Red Wagon   UPCYCLE
Paper Shelter   ANYTHING GOES

Thanks,
Farrah

Birthday Girls.

I've been finding it nearly impossible to get the time for posting.
The kids are keeping me busy, busy, busy. But so far our summer has been a lot of fun.
At school my daughter had to do a project about a local legend. Her and I googled ideas and found The Screaming Tunnel. It's a tunnel that is supposedly haunted by a young girl and my daughter was so intrigued by it that we took a little trip to visit it. It's just outside of Niagara Falls and is the tunnel used in the Dead Zone movie. I thought the kids might be a little freaked out going into it, but nope, not at all :)

That's daughter pretending to be a ghost in there. She's awesome.

For my cards I used another of Sureya's images, from deviantArt.

The papers are new -yay- that I picked up at Michael's. From a pack called Retro Collage. The sentiment stamp is super old and I don't remember the brand.

It worries me that the grey hair makes her look old. That wasn't my intention but, what-ever, I wanted to experiment with different colours so c'est la vie :)
For these challenges -
Bearly Mine. GIRLY BIRTHDAY
Papertake Weekly. ALL THINGS GIRLIE
Paper Makeup Stamps. DIGI DIMENSION
Simon says Stamp and Show. ANYTHING GOES
My Heart Pieces. FOR SOMEONE SPECIAL
Totally Paper Crafts. LOTS OF LAYERS
Simon Says Stamps. SKETCH.

Thanks for looking,
Farrah

Happy Birthday x 2

Whenever I go to Michael's I see all the yellow and red clearance pricetags hanging from EMPTY hooks. It's maddening. However..... I was there a few days ago finally managed to get some radically price-reduced supplies before they were all taken! First I pick up a fantastic 12 x 12 paper pad on sale from $29.99 down to $11.99. (It was the last one!!) Also I grabbed some birthday stickers reduced to $1.49 from $6.99. And I never use stickers on my cards but I put them to use right away.
So here's two cards, from one sticker pack.
FAB birthday.


I'm making an effort to use my Cricut more. The FAB diecut is from the Create a Critter cartridge. For these challenges -
Shopping Our Stash. STICKERS
Die Kreative. HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Card Crafters Circle. SENTIMENT
Aud Sentiments. SENTIMENT FOR KID'S BIRTHDAY


For the second card I really went to town with the stickers. Paired them up with some strips of my new paper....easy peasy.


For these challenges -
Crafty Sentiments. BRIGHT COLOURS
Loves Rubber Stamps. PHOTO INSPIRATION
Lexi's Creations. HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Thanks, Farrah

Dotty Madness.

Recently I was snooping around in Blogland and I came across an AMAZING site. It's called deviantArt and it appears to be an online gallery for artist to showcase their work.
I saw some outstanding talent and tons of images just perfect for cards. The images are also FREE!
(Just be sure to check the artist's bio for their policies and preferences.)
One gallery really appealed to me, so these 4 characters are all designed by the same artist. Her name is Sureya and you can see all of her work HERE.

The cards are one layer. I cut around the heads for a little extra dimension.

These girls are too cool :)    Originally I planned to have only the image and sentiment. Not sure where the dot idea came from but I was nervous about it, figured I was likely gonna ruin the cards by doing it, but I like how it turned out.

I glossy accented all the eyes, and some parts of the images. Like the gun and knife here.

For these challenges:
CAS-ual Fridays

Sir StampAlot - BINGO. I think I could make multiple bingos here, but I'll go with BLING/BROWN/PINK
Card and Scrap - BLING.
Smudgy Antics - ANYTHING GOES.

Thanks for looking,
Farrah

Man Tags.

Gotta be quick! I'm attempting to do this post while the boys are preoccupied with Play-Doh. A couple of tags for the guys. I started out knowing I wanted to use bottle caps, then decided to use the beer bottle shape for the second tag. If the Cricut has a beer die-cut I KNOW I don't have that cartridge :) so I bit the bullet and freehanded it.

Likely liquid snow would be the best choice for the foam but I don't have any and am trying to use more of the things I DO have on hand, rather than buy MORE stuff. I mixed Glossy Accent with paint and a smidge of glitter.

I made this for the current challenge at CAS-ual Fridays.

They ask for a masculine project using designer paper. I've used Kraft cardstock, the green paper is from DCWV and the chevron paper is Basic Grey.

Also for these challenges - Karen's Doodles. CHEERS
Tuesday Throwdown. MAKE IT MASCULINE
Simon Says Stamp and Show. FOR THE BOYS
Thanks for looking,
Farrah